Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus have announced the launch of a new study measuring the safety and efficacy of its Covid-19 vaccine in children.
300 volunteers aged between 6 and 17 will take part, with the first vaccinations in the trial taking place later this month.
As many as 240 of the children involved in the trial will receive the vaccine – and the others a control meningitis jab.
Children living near the University of Oxford, St George’s University Hospital, London, University Hospital Southampton and Bristol Royal Hospital for Children are being asked to sign up to the trial.
Andrew Pollard, the trial’s chief investigator, said in a statement, “While most children are relatively unaffected by coronavirus and are unlikely to become unwell with the infection, it is important to establish the safety and immune response to the vaccine in children and young people as some children may benefit from vaccination.”
Rinn Song, pediatrician and clinician-scientist at Oxford, said that it is important to collect data on vaccines for younger age groups, “so that they could potentially benefit from inclusion in vaccination programs in the near future.”
Song also pointed out how the “pandemic has had a profound negative impact on the education, social development and emotional well-being of children and adolescents, beyond illness and rare severe disease presentations.”
The new trial comes as AstraZeneca is also looking to develop vaccines that can combat new Covid-19 variants, which they expect could take at least six months.
